


so you bite on a towel (hope it won't hurt too bad)

by coalitiongirl_ficlets (coalitiongirl)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1610141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coalitiongirl/pseuds/coalitiongirl_ficlets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Zelena and Regina grow up together under Cora's thumb. </p><p>Trigger warning for child abuse throughout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	so you bite on a towel (hope it won't hurt too bad)

**Author's Note:**

> Moving my Tumblr ficlets here before they vanish deep in my fic tag! I'll only be doing a couple at a time so I don't spam y'all, no worries. (:

When Regina’s three and Zelena is six, they chase each other around the royal grounds where Grandfather lives and tear through the library and ride down banisters. Regina falls down the stairs once and it’s Zelena who’s punished, who Mother flings across the room with an outstretched hand and rebukes for not taking care of Regina. Regina is patched up tenderly and Daddy takes her to Grandfather for a get-well hug.

They’re too young to hear the whispers and notice the eyes on Zelena, but Zelena is already uncomfortable around their cousins, and when Regina asks Daddy what a bastard is, Mother decides that they’ve had enough time with Grandfather this summer.

* * *

When Regina’s seven, she goes alone to the royal castle. Zelena is no longer permitted to join her, and she knows it’s because Mother says that Zelena doesn’t belong to Daddy. Daddy calls them both his little girls, though, and maybe Mother’s lying, just like she does when she takes Zelena out on horseback for the day and says it’s for picnics. 

Zelena tells her the truth when they’re sitting together under a pile of blankets, a little flame bright in her palm, and Regina dreams of magic lessons and power at hand and two sisters as benevolent and magical as the fairies themselves.

* * *

Sometimes Regina makes mistakes, says the wrong things and embarrasses Mother, and she can see the darkness in Mother’s eyes every time before Zelena springs forward and takes responsibility. She’s locked up and tied up and she never stops fighting back, and Regina hides in her room and weeps on the bed while Daddy sits quietly with her.

_Why don’t you HELP her?_ she bursts out once, and Daddy fumbles for words and calls her his little princess and she doesn’t talk to him until she hears Zelena’s stilted footsteps making their way up the staircase. Then she goes to Zelena’s room and climbs into her bed and they hold each other while Zelena makes the room glow with green magic.

* * *

She’s angry and defiant and she hates her mother, she hates her, for all the coddling and the affection that she gets while Zelena has only magic and resentment. She rides every day with Zelena and while Zelena’s form is perfect, her movements precise and ladylike, Regina rides like a tomboy and gets into scrapes with the kitchen boys and is exactly the girl her mother doesn’t want her to be.

And Mother blames it on Zelena, who does everything right when Regina is never enough. Regina is twelve now, old enough to know that they have different fathers and her own is a prince but Zelena’s was only a gardener. She’s getting old enough to know that it’s why she’s spared and the girl she holds in her arms is not, and she swears to be better from now on. For Zelena.

* * *

And then she ruins everything when her mother finds her playing hide and seek with the miller’s boy and Mother is  _livid_ , eyes spitting venom at Zelena for ever letting her out of her sight. And then Zelena is pinned against the wall and Regina is running forward sobbing  _Mother, stop, Mother!_ and Zelena is shouting at her to get away and then there are ropes from their game wrapping around Regina, too, tight enough to strangle her. 

She can’t breathe and she’s thrown into the air, two insolent daughters forced to face their mother, and Zelena’s eyes are dark and dangerous as green magic lances from her hands to wrap around Mother like ropes of her own. Mother hisses a curse at Zelena and then they’re all freed at once in a burst of green smoke and Regina holds tight to her sister before Mother can move again.

Mother looks…afraid, and furious, and magic explodes from her hands toward Zelena again but then there’s purple everywhere and they’re suddenly back in Zelena’s bed, huddled together, and Regina says  _How’d you do that?_ and Zelena says  _I didn’t_ and nothing makes sense at all.

* * *

When Regina’s seventeen, she meets a stable boy with hair like Zelena’s in winter and falls in love. Mother can’t know but Zelena whispers with her and they sneak into the stables together and Zelena uses magic to hide their trail. And Daniel is so sweet and kind and she wishes that Zelena had someone just like him.

But Mother scoffs whenever Zelena talks about love and reminds her that she’s only a gardener’s daughter. She holds Regina’s face in her hands, c _hin up, dear, we’re going to find your prince_ , and Regina shares a secret smile with Zelena. Mother can’t know, but this is a magic all of her own.

* * *

Mother’s prince is a king and he’s old and distant and  _not Daniel_ , and Zelena rocks her when she cries and promises to help her find a way. Daniel wants to run and then they’re engaged and they’re going to be happy and Zelena promises to keep Mother away and Snow White promises to keep a secret and it’s all going to be okay, there are people who love her and they’re going to help her be free.

And Zelena is going to meet them after she manages to distract Mother from their escape and then Daniel is on the floor with his heart dust at her feet and Zelena is  _gone_ , missing, like she’d never been there at all.  _She’s of no use to me now that you’re grown,_ Mother says coldly, and Regina cries herself to sleep, alone in Zelena’s bed.

* * *

Time passes, crawling along like she and Zelena had once crept through Grandfather’s castle. Only now Regina is alone and following dim paths with no end as they weave through tiny spaces and trap, trap, trap until there’s nowhere else to go but forward into the darkness.

* * *

Henry is gone and Emma is gone and Regina is alone again in a world that’s never been kind to her- and she rarely kind in return- and there are flying monkeys overhead and Belle says  _Oz_ and they all agree.

“The Wicked Witch,” Regina says, and she thinks she can see green magic spark in the distance.


End file.
